The Time That Matters Most
The Time That Matters Most is an ongoing fiction by AuRon the champion. It takes place on Spherus Magna, in an unknown time and universe. Story Prologue "Time... ... I wish I had more time." "The funny thing about this, is that you were given every chance. Everything you needed was handed to you on a sliver platter. But what did you do? You wasted time." "Time isn't something I can just give you." "Time's running out, if you don't get help soon, the-" "LOOK OUT THERE! Look at how many people who are now in morning, because their loved ones sacrified themselves to buy you extra time! Extra time that you squandered!" "In three day's time, you're going to die. No ifs, ands, or buts. It's final." "About time you showed up! I was wondering when you'd get here!" "I'm surprised at how quickly you finished. I think that's a new record time." "You want to finally learn? About time." "You have to realize, life, especially yours, isn't about running around trying to get revenge. It's about using the time given to you to do something special that improves life around you." "In a few hours, we'll be right back home- Just on time." "Look at the hour! Once it's time, the games will truly begin!" "You woke up. It's about time." "You're lucky I found you, any longer and I would have to be making time for your funeral!" "I'm sorry this had to happen to you... Hopefully this time everything will work out." Chapter One The first thing she remembed was the seeing the sword sticking through her. Afterwards, she vaguely remembered falling to the ground, staring up at the beings who kneeled down beside her. Some were crying, liquid tears falling from their faces and striking the sand around her. She remembed the plant seeds that were placed around her, placed by the crying beings in hopes that they may grow from her body. After that... There was nothing. Just her. Just her staring up at the blue sky and the light brown sand. What came after seemed like eternity. The sand blew across her body constantly. Sometimes burying her, the other times just draging the particles across her body and the sword that was impaled through her. One particularily bad time, the sand rose, making it impossible for her to see anymore. It had made her eyes hurt. Hurt so much worse. Worse than when the sand buried her, and got into the space between her body and the sword, or when it threatened to stop her breathing. Eventually, she decided that she was tired, and needed a long nap, a nap to last forever... "Wake up already! You're going to miss dinner if you sleep any longer!" She irritibly sat up, noticing first off, she could move. Secondly, someone had disturbed her nap. Heads were going to roll. "Just who the heck are you?" She growled, glaring the being who'd woken her up. "Just a passing traveler!" The being said with glee, his mouth curving into a smile. "Now eat up," He instructed, "Elsewise your stew will get cold on you." As he said this, the being pointed at a bowl lying besides her, to which she careful picked it up, sniffing it. "Don't worry, it smells worse than it tastes," He assured, to which she promptly took a sip of the 'stew'. It tasted awful, so she spat it out on the ground beside her. "You lied," She growled, eyes now fixated on the being. "I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you that the medicine tasted good, now could I?" The being asked, "Now, seriously, eat it. You'll start feeling better afterwards. You're lucky I found you, any longer and I would have to be making time for your funeral!" "Found me? You haven't even told me who you are!" "I'm sorry again," The being said, standing up, "My name is Resarcio! Mechanic, inventor, wanderer extraordinaire! I happened to be passing through this way when I found you... Nasty thing that happened to you. You must've been lying like that for a good week or so! Amazing that you didn't die from initial contact, you're tougher than you look, I'll give you that." "Thing that happened to me. What exactly happened to me?" She asked, getting the feeling that whatever had happened to her was not the norm for most beings. "You were impaled. By a sword. Cut through most of your internal organs, stomach, intestines... the works. You're the only being I've ever seen to survive an evisceration like that. I don't even want to think about the ramifications of having an injury like that." At this, her eyes widened, and looked down at her body. There was a blanket covering her, considering how they were in the desert, it was probably to protect her from the sand and the cool temperature that night brought... She slowly drew the blanket off her body, almost afraid to see what lay underneath. She then made several observations. One, she was quite bare, making her cheeks instantly turn red. Two, most of her lower torso had been wrapped in bandages, and while it looked like there was a single clean stitch, she felt like that wasn't the case on the inside. Three, she got the distinct feeling like she shouldn't be alive. "What did I lose?" She asked, suppressing several violent shudders. "You don't want to know," Resarcio said, his face grim, "You'll still be able to eat and digest food, but that system was mostly ruined. It's going to hurt whenever you try to digest anything, probably forever." "I'll get better," She said, having a queer sensation that she'll end up better off than Resarcio said, "But I have one last question, if you don't mind." "Shoot." "Did anything I was wearing have a name on it?" Resarcio shook his head, "No. Your armor didn't have any names or important features on it." "What about the sword that stabbed me?" "It's blank too." "Where is it?" "With your armor. When you feel strong enough to walk, you can retrieve it from my wagon." She looked down at the soup, trying to put a mask on over her feelings as she took another sip. She barely managed to swallow it, and felt the warm liquid enter her stomach. It burned. Just like Resarcio said. "Resarcio... What is my name?" She gagged, acting as if she hadn't said anything, but Resarcio did hear. He didn't say anything for a moment, as if pondering her question, before answering with, "Don't worry about it. Names are just the prison of the mind. Too confining and all that... So I'll call you Carcere. Carcere Mentis." Carcere. It struck a strange cord of harmony inside of her. Carcere Mentis. "Better than nothing," Carcere said, taking another sip of soupy medicine, "So Resarcio, where are you headed?" "The village of my birth!" Resarcio exclaimed, a smile upon his face once more, "Well, it's more of a city in recent centuries. The City of Vulcanus. A new round of Glatorian are competing this year, and I'm keen on seeing if I can find work fixing armor, vehicles, and the like while the games are going on. Care to join with 'em Carcere? I'm sure once we get to Vulcanus, we can talk to the Justicars, and have them help you find your attacker." "Sounds great to me Resarcio. I'd be more than happy to travel with my rescuer." Chapter Two "... Are we there yet?" "No," Resarcio said, his eyes focused upon the oncoming horizon. "But we've been riding in this thing for three. Stinking. Days! How much farther is this 'New Vulcanus'!?" Carcere complained, riding in the back of the wagon. Luckily for Carcere, her wound was healing up quite nice, and slightly faster than Resarcio had expected. Perhaps it was due to her mostly-organic makeup, or some form of genetics that her family had possessed. Whatever the reason, Resarcio hadn't checked on the makeshift stitches he'd made upon sealing her wound, but he knew she had to be feeling much better. Nobody who had survived a wound that bad would be able to complain that loudly if they weren't. Although, it concerned him at the rate of her recovery. Resarcio wasn't sure of how far away Vulcanus was, but he knew that if Carcere's recovery continued at this rate, he'd have to pull her stitches out, lest the skin began to grow over them. The most terrifying thing to Resarcio about the speed of her recovery, was that only five days ago that Carcere was enterign the first stage of death. She'd been actively living with the sword inside her for however long she'd been lying in the middle of the desert. As far as Resarcio knew, that wasn't physically possible. The Justicars would most certainly be interested in an individual like Carcere. Especially if it was someone trying to avenge their own death. They'd get a kick out of that. "Look, do you see those lights over there? That's the lava pool that keeps Vulcanus warm. That means we're almost there," Resarcio said, gesturing at an orange haze on the horizon of the dusk sky. As Carcere started to sit up, he placed a hand on her stomach, frowning at her, "That's a really good way to open something if you're not careful." "Sorry," Carcere said, lying back down, "So, I'm going to go talk to these Justicar-chaps while you go to spectate fights in a arena? Doesn't exactly seem like you Res." "No, I'm going to talk to the Justicars for you." "For me? What am I going to be doing then!?" "You're going into surgery the first chance you can get," Resarcio said, "Those stitches are going to need to come out soon, and you wont be able to talk while that's going on." "So, you're going to talk to the Justicars, while I get stitches removed... Then what?" "We'll see. I don't know if the Justicars have ever handled a case like this during their existance, at least not while the victim was still alive." "... I beg your pardon, what?" "You're just lucky to be alive Carcere," Resarcio said, looking back and giving the young Glatorian a warm smile, "Very lucky." After this exchange, Resarcio could easily started to see the village gates. Eager to get closer to the city, Resarcio changed the gears of the vehicle's speed so that it expended more fuel to get to it's destination. Considering how he'd be able to trade for more during the games, it wouldn't be that difficult. Once the duo had cleared the city outskirts, Resarcio pulled up infront of the regional Justicar headquarters. Glancing to the back of the vehicle, he could see Carcere dozing, somewhere between sleep and being awake. Off in the distance, he heard the arena, and saw the soft glow of orange light that came from the lava that heated it. By the pagentry that decorated the city, Resarcio could tell that the games were due to start tomorrow, if they hadn't begun prior to their arrival. (WIP) Story Notes Characters *Carcere *Resarcio Trivia *I sense a pattern. Category:Perfect Strangers Universe